Appel à communication : Artists’ Publication (Brême, 28-29 juin 2024)

Artists’ Publications – A Critical Approach to Historical and Contemporary Formats of Artistic Publishing (Bremen, June 28-29, 2024)

Symposium of the Research Association for Artists’ Publications in cooperation with the University of Bremen, the University of Cologne and the Centre for Artists’ Publications

June 28-29, 2024: Centre for Artists’ Publications at the Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen.
Kathrin Barutzki, Franziska Rauh

In 2024, the Research Association for Artists’ Publications and the Centre for Artists’ Publications in Bremen will celebrate their 25th anniversary. On this occasion, the Research Association invites young scholars to present their current research on artistic publishing. The outstanding archival and collection holdings of the Centre for Artists’ Publications constitute both a historical backdrop and an exceptional artistic resource for emerging debates, since they become actively integrated into the discourse. Contributors to the symposium are therefore welcome to use publications from the Centre’s holdings as examples in their own research.

From their beginning, both the Centre for Artists’ Publications and the Research Association have facilitated fundamental research into artists’ publications, as well as museum and university mediation with respect to this medium which, since the 1940s, has been adopted increasingly by visual artists, experimental poets and musicians. In this context, the symposium aims to bring together current research questions and discourses in the field of artists’ publications. The goal is to strengthen the network of researchers dedicated to these relatively small artistic formats, which are rarely visible in large exhibitions.

Since the creation of artistic publications – such as books, flyers, magazines, multiples, posters, radio artworks, records and other published and often mass-produced artworks – has always been tied to alternative forms and places, many have an inherent critical potential. This is evident not only in the choice of subject or motif of the works, but also often in the chosen form of publication, the aesthetic concept, the materiality and the collaborative structures of production and distribution that are used. Artists’ publications pave their own way, independently of established institutions, developing new artistic formats that transcend canonized art genres, thus making their ideas public in a particular, often mobile form.

In this light, the symposium seeks research contributions that, in terms of content, form, material and its handling, examine historical as well as contemporary formats of published, reproduced and edited art and their tense relationship with societal challenges and socio-political conditions. Fundamental to this is the assumption that social, economic, ecological, and political crises are often artistically debated – albeit in a subversive and not immediately obvious way – in the various forms of publication.

Possible focal points for a 20-minute presentation of one’s research questions to the medium might include:
– Intersectional research approaches
– Negotiation of sustainability
– Democratic and participatory aspects and strategies
– Reflection on migration and nationalism
– Relations between art and activism
– Canon formation: role and categorization of artists’ publications
– Artists’ publications as institutional critique
– Potential for museum education and university teaching
– …

Please submit a short proposal (max. 300 words) for a paper and a short CV (max. 250 words) by September 30, 2023 to this email address: Symposium@kuenstlerpublikationen.de. Contributions can be submitted in German and English. Feedback will be provided by October 31, 2023.

We kindly ask you to travel by bus or train, if possible, to keep the symposium as climate-neutral as possible. If necessary, selected contributions will be published afterwards.

source: https://arthist.net/archive/39875